KAKKOOR: Can you imagine an IT park in a rural setting? No. Then you may be surprised to know that there do exist one such IT park and believe it or not its flourishing beyond anybody’s wild imagination.
Technolodge, which is situated in the serene atmosphere of Kakkoor-a place historically known for Kalayottam, is an example that completely overturns the common belief that the pre-requisite for an IT set up to flourish is its proximity to an urban area.
The proposal to set up Technolodge, which was started in 2013, in a rural area had raised many an eyebrow in the initial stage itself.
However, after a period of one and a half years since its inception it has notched itself a place as the only successful Rural IT Park in Kerala and it houses 37 companies.
By December four more companies take residence at the park. The the total number of people employed at the park will be 100 by then and the average salary is `12,000 per month. At present 16 applications from prospective companies are pending with Technolodge.
Technolodge infrastructure at Kakkoor was built by Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure (KSITIL), a state government-promoted company and PEEBO Rural IT Infrastructure developers is running the show. The 6,000sqft building was built at a cost of `88 lakh.
“The major change that Technolodge has brought in is local employment generation. We could change the socio-economic equation of Kakkoor. Earlier, IT professionals from the area had to go looking for jobs in Kochi. With the arrival of Technolodge, the situation has changed and people were able to get jobs near their homes. Two years ago there were no hotels in Kakkoor. Now many hotels and other facilities have come up. The local people also got an opportunity to earn revenue by renting out a portion of their houses for the employees of Technolodge. There are eight engineering colleges around Technolodge. In future we will be able to recruit talents from these institutions. The average rent for a seat is `1,000 and the average staff strength of a company here is 10,” said Baiju N T, Managing Partner, Technolodge.
Apart from that it has also played a crucial role in imbibing local entrepreneurship as eight companies here were started by local people, he added. Technolodge also provides discount in rent for student enterprises. At present, Immneos Technologies, Quadsis Technologies and Crazydes come under this category. Companies in Technolodge get funds from KFC, KSIDC and Punjab National Bank.
“Majority of the companies incubated at Technolodge are product companies. An urban atmosphere is required only for service companies. In terms of cost we have an upper hand too. We can do a work which is done in Kochi at a much cheaper rate in Kakkoor. We have now grown in such a manner that talent from across the state is attracted towards Kakkoor,” said Alok Babu, managing director of Nextuz, the first active entrepreneur at Technolodge.
Basant Mathew, managing partner, Samyukti said that it is an ideal place to develop a product as it is cost effective. His company employs 12 people of them eight are women.
